Valved cap for beverage containers

ABSTRACT

Cap for a threaded neck beverage container. The cap is based on a rotating ball design and functions as a valve. The ball is embedded in a cylindrical hollow body configured to screw onto the neck of the beverage bottle. The top part of the hollow body will have a hemispherical central depression configured to hold the rotating ball in place, while allowing the ball to rotate about its axis (here two oppositely disposed pivot shafts). In one ball pivot angle, the ball&#39;s central fluid passage will be disposed above a body fluid so that fluids from the beverage container may travel through the body fluid port, up through the central opening, and often into the mouth of a user. At other ball pivot angles, the surface of the ball passes over the body fluid port, thus substantially preventing fluids from the beverage container from exiting the container.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the priority benefit of U.S. provisional patentapplication 61/829,164 “VALVED CAP FOR BEVERAGE CONTAINERS”, inventorMichael Hung, filed May 30, 2013; this application is also acontinuation in part of US design patent application Ser. No. 29/456,393“VALVED CAP FOR BEVERAGE CONTAINERS”, inventor Michael Hung, filed May30, 2013; the contents of both applications are incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention is in the field of screw cap closures for bottles,particularly beverage bottles designed to hold beverages for athletic orrecreational use.

2. Description of the Related Art

Various caps for beverage containers are known. In particular, forcontainers such as water bottles intended for use outside the home, suchas by athletes, campers, hikers, and the like, it is desirable toprovide a cap for the container that in one mode acts to prevent thebeverage from accidentally spilling, while in another mode allows theuser to drink directly from the container.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Here, a cap for a beverage container with a threaded neck, such as awater bottle, is provided that uses a unique rotating ball design tofunction as a valve. The ball, which may be a substantially solid ball,often made of plastic, often between about 0.5″ to 2″ in diameter, witha central fluid passage, will usually be embedded in a substantiallycylindrical hollow body (also often made of plastic) with inner screwthreads, configured to screw onto the neck of a beverage bottle. The toppart of the hollow body will have a hemispherical central depressionconfigured to hold the rotating ball in place, while allowing the ballto rotate about its axis (here two oppositely disposed pivot shafts). Inone ball pivot angle, the ball's central fluid passage will be disposedabove a body fluid so that fluids from the beverage container may travelthrough the body fluid port, up through the central opening, and ofteninto the mouth of a user. At other ball pivot angles, the surface of theball passes over the body fluid port, thus substantially preventingfluids from the beverage container from exiting the container.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows the cap in its normal operating configuration attached to ahand held beverage container. In some embodiments, the cap may have aloop configured to attach to hooks or the user's fingers.

FIG. 2 shows a top perspective view of the cap showing the rotating ballattached to the body.

FIG. 3 shows a top view of the cap showing the rotating ball attached tothe body.

FIG. 4 shows a cutaway perspective view of the cap showing a crosssection of both the ball and the body.

FIG. 5 top shows a side cutaway view of the cap showing a cross sectionof both the ball and the body. FIG. 5 bottom shows a cutaway topperspective view of the cap showing a cross section of both the ball andthe body.

FIG. 6 top shows a different cutaway view of the cap, here showing across section of the central fluid passage as it passes through thesubstantially solid portion of the ball's body. FIG. 6 bottom shows abottom oriented perspective cutaway view of the cap, here showing thecross section view from a bottom oriented perspective.

FIG. 7 shows a bottom oriented view of the cap, here almost entirelyshowing the details of the hollow body, the screw thread, and the bodyfluid port.

FIG. 8 top shows a side cutaway view of the body portion of the capwithout the ball (pivoting spherical ball), thus better showing thehemispherical central depression, one of the two pivot shaft recesses,the body fluid port, and the screw thread. FIG. 8 lower left showsdifferent perspective side cutaway view of the body portion of the cap,showing the body fluid port in more detail. FIG. 8 lower right shows adetail of the pivot shaft recess, showing the pivot shaft recessconstriction.

FIG. 9 top shows a top perspective view of the body portion of the capwithout the ball. FIG. 9 bottom shows a top perspective view of the bodyportion of the cap without the ball from a different angle.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Please refer to FIGS. 1-9 for details:

In some embodiments, the invention may comprise a valved cap (100) for abeverage container (102). This valved cap will generally comprise asubstantially cylindrical hollow body (110), often made of plastic, witha substantially closed top (112), and an open bottom (114).

This body will often have a substantially closed top with a roughlyhemispherical central depression (116) (configured to relatively snuglyreceive the rotating spherical valve (200) described below. Thisdepression will often have with a body fluid port (118) and twooppositely disposed pivot shaft recesses (120), (122).

The cap will also comprise a pivoting spherical valve (200) (oftenreferred to informally as a “ball), comprising a substantially sphericalbody comprising a substantially solid interior (202). This ball willoften be made of plastic as well. The pivoting spherical valve willusually have a hollow or open central fluid passage (204), as well as asurface with two oppositely disposed pivot shafts (206), (208). Thepivoting spherical valve will also generally have an upper (210) and alower (212) valve fluid port connecting to the central fluid passage(204), as well as protruding mouth bib (214) disposed within 10 degreesof the upper valve fluid port (210), and at least one detent (216)disposed within 30 degrees of the upper valve fluid port (210). Heredegrees are measured from the center of the “ball”.

As previously discussed, this pivoting spherical valve (200) willmounted within the hemispherical central depression (116), usually usingthe two oppositely disposed pivot shafts (206), (208), snapped the“ball” into place in the body via two oppositely disposed pivot shaftrecesses (120), (122). As a result, the pivoting spherical valve (200)may pivot around its pivot shafts (206), (208), yet remain trapped inthe hollow body (110) by mechanical force exerted by the two oppositelydisposed pivot shaft recesses (206), (208).

In use, and when attached to a beverage container (102), when thepivoting spherical valve (200) is at a drinking pivot angle (218) (allfigures show this angle), the pivoting spherical valve (200) will bepositioned so that fluid may pass from the container, through the bodyfluid port (118), through the lower valve fluid port (212), through thecentral fluid passage (204), and out the upper valve fluid port (212).The fluid may flow into various receptacles, including a cup or ofteneven directly into the user's mouth.

To facilitate drinking directly by mouth, the “ball” portion of the capwill often optionally have a protruding mouth bib (214) configured tohelp guide the passage of fluid into the mouth of a user. This bib canalso be used to help open and shut the valve as well.

To help keep the valve in an open (beverage flow permitting) positionwhen this is desired, the “ball” may be configured so that at a drinkingpivot angle (218), at least one detent (216) prevents further pivotingof the pivoting spherical valve (200) in one direction.

The valve also has a plurality of “shut” positions as well. Here at aplurality of non-drinking pivot angles (222), the pivoting sphericalvalve (200) will be positioned so that the passage of fluid from saidbody fluid port (118) is blocked by the surface of the substantiallyspherical body of said pivoting spherical valve (200). This preventsfluid from passing from the body fluid port (118), through the lowervalve fluid port (212), and through said central fluid passage (204).

FIG. 1 shows the cap (100) in its normal operating configurationattached to a hand held beverage container (102). In some embodiments,the cap may have a loop (126) configured to attach to hooks (104) or theuser's fingers.

FIG. 2 shows a top perspective view of the cap showing the rotating ball(pivoting spherical valve (200)) attached to the body (110).

FIG. 3 shows a top view of the cap showing the rotating ball (pivotingspherical valve (200)) attached to the body. Note that it is possible tolook through the upper valve fluid port (210) and into the central fluidpassage below. The details of the pivot shafts (206), (208) can also beclearly seen, as well as the optional detent (216).

FIG. 4 shows a cutaway perspective view of the cap showing a crosssection of both the ball (pivoting spherical valve (200)) and the body.Here the pivoting spherical valve is positioned at a drinking pivotangle. Thus fluid may pass through container (102) (not shown) throughthe body fluid port (118), through the lower valve fluid port (212),through the central fluid passage (204) and out through the upper valvefluid port (210). A user will often drink directly from the cap, hereaided by the protruding mouth bib (214).

FIG. 5 top shows a side cutaway view of the cap showing a cross sectionof both the ball (pivoting spherical valve (200)) and the body. FIG. 5bottom shows a cutaway top perspective view of the cap showing a crosssection of both the ball and the body.

FIG. 6 top shows a different cutaway view of the cap, here showing across section of the central fluid passage as it passes through thesubstantially solid portion of the ball's (pivoting spherical valve(200)) body. FIG. 6 bottom shows a bottom oriented perspective cutawayview of the cap, here showing the cross section view from a bottomoriented perspective. This shows the optional screw threads (124) inbetter detail.

FIG. 7 shows a bottom oriented view of the cap, here almost entirelyshowing the details of the hollow body (110), the screw thread (124),and the body fluid port (118). Part of the pivoting spherical valve'slower valve fluid port (212) can also be seen.

FIG. 8 top shows a side cutaway view of the body portion of the capwithout the ball (pivoting spherical ball), thus better showing thehemispherical central depression (116), one of the two pivot shaftrecesses (120), the body fluid port (118), and the screw thread (124).FIG. 8 lower left shows different perspective side cutaway view of thebody portion of the cap, showing the body fluid port in more detail(118). FIG. 8 lower right shows a detail of the pivot shaft recess (120or 122), showing the pivot shaft recess constriction (126) useful tosnap the ball into place, and then keep it in place afterwards.

FIG. 9 top shows a top perspective view of the body portion of the capwithout the ball giving a good view of the hemispherical centraldepression (116), the body fluid port (118), and the two oppositelydisposed pivot shaft recesses (120), (122). FIG. 9 bottom shows a topperspective view of the body portion of the cap without the ball from adifferent angle, giving a good view of an optional detent recess (117)designed to better capture detent (216) at the drinking pivot angle.

As previously discussed, in some embodiments, the interior of saidsubstantially cylindrical hollow body (110) has a screw thread (124)configured to allow the cap (100) to be securely screwed onto the screwthreaded neck of a beverage container (102).

Further, in some embodiments, the cap's substantially cylindrical hollowbody (110) may further comprises an exterior loop (126) configured toallow a user (usually when the valved cap is attached to a beveragecontainer (102)), to hold the combination valved cap and beveragecontainer with their fingers, or to attach the combination valved capand beverage container to a hook (104).

In some embodiments, the pivot shaft recesses (120), (122) may be atleast partially disposed within the hemispherical central depression(116). Here often at least one pivot shaft recess (120) and/or (122) maybe configured with a passage outside the hemispherical centraldepression (124), and a pivot shaft recess constriction (126). As aresult, after the pivoting spherical valve (200) is snapped into placeby the pivot shafts (206), (208), this at least one pivot shaft recessconstriction (126) can then securely trap the pivoting spherical valve(200) inside the hemispherical central depression (116) in the hollowbody (110).

As previously discussed, in some embodiments, the hemispherical centraldepression (116) of the cap body may additionally have a recess or tab(117) configured to act to block detent (216) from rotating further intothe hemispherical central depression, at least at the drinking angle.

1. A valved cap for a beverage container, comprising: a substantiallycylindrical hollow body with a substantially closed top, and an openbottom; said substantially closed top having a hemispherical centraldepression with a body fluid port and two oppositely disposed pivotshaft recesses; a pivoting spherical valve comprising a substantiallyspherical body comprising a substantially solid interior with a centralfluid passage, and a surface with two oppositely disposed pivot shafts,an upper and a lower valve fluid port connecting to said central fluidpassage, a protruding mouth bib disposed within 10 degrees of said uppervalve fluid port and at least one detent disposed within 30 degrees ofsaid upper valve fluid port; said pivoting spherical valve mountedwithin the hemispherical central depression with the two oppositelydisposed pivot shafts snapped into place into said two oppositelydisposed pivot shaft recesses so that said pivoting spherical valve maypivot around its pivot shafts, yet remain trapped in said hollow body bymechanical force exerted by said two oppositely disposed pivot shaftrecesses; wherein at a drinking pivot angle, said pivoting sphericalvalve is positioned so that fluid may pass from said body fluid port,through said lower valve fluid port, through said central fluid passage,and out said upper valve fluid port and into the mouth of a user; saidprotruding mouth bib being configured to help guide the passage of fluidinto the mouth of a user; wherein at said drinking pivot angle, said atleast one detent prevents further pivoting of said pivoting sphericalvalve in one direction; wherein at a plurality of non-drinking pivotangles, said pivoting spherical valve is positioned so that the passageof fluid from said body fluid port is blocked by the surface of thesubstantially spherical body of said pivoting spherical valve, thuspreventing fluid from passing from said body fluid port (118), throughsaid lower valve fluid port, and through said central fluid passage. 2.The valved cap of claim 1, wherein the interior of said substantiallycylindrical hollow body has a screw thread configured to allow saidvalved cap to be securely screwed onto the screw threaded neck of abeverage container.
 3. The valved cap of claim 1, wherein saidsubstantially cylindrical hollow body further comprises an exterior loopconfigured to allow a user, when said valved cap is attached to abeverage container, to hold said combination valved cap and beveragecontainer, or to attach said combination valved cap and beveragecontainer to a hook.
 4. The valved cap of claim 1, wherein said pivotshaft recesses are at least partially disposed within the hemisphericalcentral depression, at least one pivot shaft recess and/or beingconfigured with a passage outside the hemispherical central depression,and a pivot shaft recess constriction, so that said after said pivotingspherical valve is snapped into place by said pivot shafts, said atleast one pivot shaft recess constriction traps said pivoting sphericalvalve (200) in said hemispherical central depression in said hollowbody.
 5. The valved cap of claim 1, wherein said hemispherical centraldepression additionally has a recess or tab to act to block detent fromrotating further into said hemispherical central depression.